proletarian

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relating to the working class; a member of the working class

   The novel championed proletarian struggle against the factory owners.

Simplified etymology

Proletarian derives from Latin proletarius, a term for a member of ancient Rome’s poorest class, whose contribution to the state was chiefly to produce offspring, Latin proles. Proletarius also developed the disparaging sense “common” or “vulgar”; the modern political association with wage earners and the working class came through French prolétariat and was strongly influenced by Karl Marx’s writings.

From Latin proletarius ('a citizen of the lowest class, who served the state only by producing offspring'), from proles ('offspring'), from pro- ('forth') + the root of alere ('to nourish').

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary